Something dark slid into Lucien, and he clenched his jaw. His uncle would have never sent repairs because they were costly, and he hoarded every last coin for his pleasures. It was why Lucien was working through that queue of debts so slowly. His uncle had possessed so many.
Lucien nodded, and Lady Elinor opened a door slightly further down from the staircase, inviting him in. She shut the door behind them, and Lucien immediately was hit with the damp scent of the room. A draft came in from another cracked window, the pane broken, as well as broken floorboards.
He was disgusted that his uncle had allowed such a run-down place. Then again, he should not have been surprised that his uncle lacked care for Fielding House. Inside, he gingerly sat behind the main desk, looking at the disrepair of it. That, too, looked ready to collapse.
Lady Elinor hesitantly sat opposite him. She pushed up her spectacles again, making Lucien want to ask if they were too loose, or if it was a nervous habit.
“What were you teaching the children today?” he asked, not wanting to waste any of their time, not when Lady Elinor kept glancing toward the window, restless.
“I have been teaching them how to write,” she said. “But I create stories through topics. Earlier today, I was reading an essay on—” she stopped herself short, her head hanging and her cheeks flooding with pink again.
“Go on,” he encouraged.
“It is not very ladylike,” she mumbled.
“I do not care for that; I am simply curious. I have caught you teaching some sort of secret lesson. I believe you can at least tell me what it contained.”
Lady Elinor seemed to take another few moments to steel herself before she sighed. “I—I have been warned against speaking about this with anyone.”
“I am not just anyone,” he responded smoothly. “And I do not care what a lady wants to read. It will not affect my life, if that is more assurance rather than offense.”
“Strangely, it is comforting.” She frowned to herself before letting out a nervous laugh. “All right, then. I was reading an essay from an astronomer named Dr. Waylan. He was setting sail for Greece to find a new constellation in an area he thought it would be best found, based on research he did with another astronomer. I fictionalized it a little for the children to begin teaching them about stars. I think some of them are too young to understand, but they listen anyway, and the older ones seem interested.”
“Astronomy?” Lucien’s brows rose.
“I know, it is a strange thing to teach children, but?—”
“I am surprisedyouare speaking about it, Lady Elinor.” He leaned back into the seat, tilting his head at her.
Oh, a woman had not surprised him in a very long time.
She was rather fascinating. Again, she shoved those spectacles up the bridge of her nose.
He continued, amused. “Who are you precisely,LadyElinor?”
She startled, her hands clasping together. Once more, she looked toward the window, and he fought the urge to ask what he was keeping her from.
“I am part of the staff.” The lie was blatant immediately, and Lucien smirked.
“I see,” he mused. “And for a staff member of a workhouse, you have surprisingly smooth hands. No cuts, scrapes, calluses. In fact, you have very smooth skin. Unfortunately, workhouse staff have a specific look to them. Often too thin, hollowed cheeks, dark under-eyes, yet you have none of that to your appearance.”
“I—I am part-time.”
“That does not exist,” he said dryly. “And not to mention that your accent is refined. You speak without contractions, unlike Mrs. Neal.”
“Well … It is merely how I-I speak,” she stammered. Her hand raised to her nose again before she dropped it, as if realizing how often she was doing that. Definitely a nervous habit.
“And the children call youLadyElinor.”
“They … they just call me that out of habit. It ought to be simply Miss Elinor.”
Lady Elinor.
Lady Elinor.
And then it finally hit Lucien, and he felt foolish for forgetting so quickly. The third daughter of Lady Morland’s through her marriage to Lord Morland. The one who had been ailed with a sensitive stomach, apparently.
Dominic had asked about her, and now something else was making slightly more sense about their reaction to Dominic claiming he had heard she spoke of interesting things.